Hartland won its first regional championship in boys skiing on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 at Mt. Brighton.(Photo: Submitted photo)

BRIGHTON — It was unquestionably the best week in the history of the Hartland boys skiing program.

The Eagles competed in three championship meets over a span of seven days, meets they’ve never won before.

Hartland came away with three first-place trophies, the most important coming Thursday in the Division 1 regional at Mt. Brighton.

The Eagles qualified for the state meet for the third straight year, but for the first time as regional champions when they outscored runner-up Brighton, 58-69. Hartland, Brighton and third-place Milford (168 points) qualified for the state meet Feb. 25 at Schuss Mountain.

Brighton’s girls qualified for the state meet, scoring 108 points to finish second by seven behind Milford.

“It’s something we’ve been building to,” Hartland coach Kyle Rutkowski said. “Four of the racers on the varsity I’ve been coaching since they were 9 or 10 years old. I told them if they stuck with it, they had a chance to be special, win regional, go to states. The stars aligned and they finished strong.”

Brighton led Hartland after the slalom races, 20-40. Hartland rallied in the afternoon, winning the giant slalom races by an 18-49 margin over the Bulldogs.

Brighton had three of the top four racers in slalom, with Andrew Myers taking second in 38.07 seconds, Grayson Keener third in 39.28 and Luke Vaden fourth in 39.62. Joe Pezzotti was fifth in 39.90 and Brendan Hoose ninth in 41.56 for Hartland.

Myers won giant slalom in 33.52, but Hartland had three of the next four finishers. Jake Pezzotti was second in 33.55, Joe Pezzotti third in 33.86 and Hoose fifth in 34.02 for the Eagles. Brighton’s Ian Swanson was fourth in 33.96. Hartland’s Bryce Natter was eighth in 34.13.

“Our No. 1 guy went down in slalom,” Rutkowski said. “We were still able to get close enough to take them in G.S.; that’s all that matters."